Collection Evaluation and Weeding
Lake Oconee Academy Media Center
Earth Science: The 550s
Weeding the books!
The 550s
High Interest
Evaluation Data: Age and Circulation
In addition to the ages of books, I looked at the amount of circulations so far this year. Some of the books with the highest circulation were also some of the oldest within the collection, being published as early as 1988. Gail Gibbons' books had the highest total circulations, averaging 10% of the total circulation. The Magic School Bus books and Simon Seymour's books both tied for second in circulation with an average of 8% of the total circulation for the year so far.
Curricular Needs: Standards Represented and Quality of Trade Books
Geology is the biggest standard within sixth grade earth science; 60% of the Milestones End of Grade assessment questions will focus on the S6E5 standard, so it is encouraging to see it well represented in the collection. Upon closer evaluation, most of the geology books, however, are about rocks and minerals, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Plate tectonics, a new and often confusing topic, is not very well represented in the collection, with only 6 total books.
In addition to content, I also wanted to be sure I kept high-quality science trade books within the collection. The National Science Teachers Association publishes a list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for K-12 each year, and I wanted to keep those in the collection. The link for all the lists can be found here.
Items to Weed
Published over ten years ago with low circulation:
Geologic Time by Jenny Karperenia
Earthquakes by Jackie Ball
Weather by Lynn Huggins-Cooper
The Changing Earth by Rebecca Olien
Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mt. St. Helens by
Earthdance: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Tidal Waves, and Glaciers Shake our Restless Planet by Cynthia Nicolsen
Earthquakes by Franklyn Branley
Water: Up, Down, and All Around by Natalie Rosinsky
Air: Outside, Inside, and All Around by Darlene Still
Rain by Anita Ganen
How Mountains are Made by Kathleen Zoehfeld
In using the MUSTY acronym, many of these books are older, lacking in current research in these fields. In addition to the age, many of these books are superseded by other books in the collection that are newer with better information and higher circulation.
The following books are to be weeded due to incorrect information:
The Four Oceans by Wil Mara: When this book was published in 2005, there were only four oceans, but now there are five! There are two copies within the collection, and both need to be weeded.
Scholastic Atlas of Oceans: Similar to the previous book, the publish date of 2004 means that an updated atlas needs to be added to the collection. This book also has a badly damaged spine, as pictured in the first image below.
According to the MUSTY philosophy, these two books are misleading in their information, lacking in the current research and information about oceans, so they need to be weeded and replaced with books that discuss the five oceans we now have!
The following books are to be weeded due to not meeting the sixth grade science standards:
Cliff Climbers by Anita Ganeri
Glaciers by Sally Walker
The Sahara Desert by Aileen Weintraub
Within the MUSTY guidelines, these books would be considered trivial. In addition to that, these books have low circulation and are older.